Restoring Carlo’s Card Collection

In December of 2011, a tropical typhoon named “Sendong” hit the Philippines. The cyclone began to push through the city of Cagayan De Oro early in the evening. Heavy rain fell, followed by major blackouts.

Later that night, the storm reached its peak and flash floods ravaged Cagayan De Oro. Nearly an entire month’s worth of rain fell in one day, resulting in extreme damage and perilous conditions.

As the storm settled, a young playing card collector named Carlo returned to his home to inspect the damage. All 74 decks in his prized collection were completely destroyed. He posted a video on YouTube of the damage.

Carlo is a big fan of Bicycle®. Wanting to help restore his collection, we teamed up with our partners and put together a package for Carlo. A collection of 74 decks is quite large. After much discussion, we concluded that we could not send him 74 decks of playing cards, the same number he lost. Instead, we sent 75 decks - completely restoring his original collection, and adding one more as the start of something new.

Over the past 125 years, USPC has remained an American institution not just because of support from across the USA, but from around the world. To Carlo - thank you.